THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

176 The Hope of Israel: What Is It?
judgment. It either saves or damns. The fowls of the
air represent, according to the Lord's explanation of
the parable of the sower, the wicked spirits, the agents
of the evil one.
This vision, and others described in Revelation, absolutely
exclude the possibility of salvation after the beginning
of the day of wrath for any who have previously
rejected the gospel.
It is appropriate also to remark that there is a
noticeable and significant absence, throughout the entire
Apocalypse, of all reference to the earthly Zion
and earthly Jerusalem. The only holy mountain and
city that have part and place in those future scenes
of blessedness are that "Mount Sion" to which we have
been brought, and "the City of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem," the "City which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God," and which is
attended by "an innumerable company of angels"
(Heb. 11: 10; 12:22, 23).
THE DISCIPLES' QUESTION IN ACTS I
Acts 1:6-8. Here we have the record of our Lord's
last words to His disciples before His ascension. The
disciples had at last nerved themselves to ask Him
plainly and directly concerning that which was ever
uppermost in their Jewish minds ; saying, "Lord, wilt
Thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?"
was:
His reply (I quote from Bagster's Interlinear)
"It is not yours to know times or seasons which the Father
placed in His own authority; but ye will receive power, the Holy
Ghost having come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses to Me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the
uttermost part of the earth."